05/26/2010

For any budding photojournalist a blog is an absolute must - it's a place where you can practice your art and get people reading what you write. I've not done this myself (using a blog to launch travel / diving related articles), but I'm guessing it would be useful if you wanted to demonstrate to an editor exactly what you are capable of. I consider myself fortunate to have broken into the magazine world prior to the 'invention' of blogs and other forms of social networks as there was far less competition back then.

if you are going to use your blog to showcase your skills I'd be careful not to go down the road many bloggers have gone down. Their sites become littered with the sorts of information some people lap up (what I had for breakfast, my thoughts on the doggy act on Britain's Got Talent, Why do some people...)

My advice, ask yourself before you post an article if it is of a standard which would acceptable for publication in your list of target magazines.

For the blogging world I guess this might be a challenge - posts are often written up in five minutes with few drafts. But with that comes all the issues in respect of grammar, structure, the use of appropriate words and phrases and all the other considerations you need to take into account when you pitch to a magazine.

I've just read back what I've written so far, it doesn't flow as well as it would if I spent 30 minutes on it, however, I don't have the time to do this.

So, there's the conundrum. Do you have the time to spend on your blog so that each post is an example of what a prospective editor would like to see in their magazine? Or is it hastily penned and only entertaining to those who recognise it for what it is?

It's worth a look, in my opinion the articles posted so far could slot into quite a few travel / adventure magazine titles (check this site soon as I'll be featuring some of them).

Pre adventure cuppa

I've wanted to set up a blog for some time now and, after getting in touch with you and starting on the journey to getting published, I finally got the motivation to take action. I love adventure and travel and thought it'd be a great way to share my passion, but also get ideas from readers too. That's what seeing the world is all about isn't it? Sharing your experiences and getting tips on where to go and what to do next. So I hope that The Adventure Girl's Guide will become a place where people go to get ideas and throw in their thoughts as well. Of course, blogs can sometimes be great for a good ol' rant - I've already abused it for this, but I hope my outbursts will do some good - my latest post is about the plight of Green Sea Turtles in Marsa Abu Dabbab. A lot of writing a blog, for me personally, is about not being able to switch off the journalist in me. I just love story telling and hope that people enjoy soaking up the tales from near and afar!

The Adventure Girl in action

Karli sent over a few pics to illustrate this post and following this we have exchanged e-mails on is the type of pictures you need to use to go with your writing. More about this on a future post.

05/25/2010

Karli's blog entry on glamping got me thinking about how she could get more people reading it and so I left a comment suggesting she links it to VW Campervan and Glamping sites. Karli went one step further. Here's her reply:

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for the post and glad you enjoyed the adventure! Cheers for the tip too – great minds think alike. I am in the world of Twitter as of today and posted my story to the Tweeting world. The Go Glamping website and HappyCampervans picked up on the article straightaway and are now following this blog!

Now - why didn't I think of that?

I've just created a Twitter account and within 5 minutes have attracted 4 followers. OK, one of them was the US Immigration Authority, but the others were real people.

Still not quite sure how it all works, Karli might end up coaching me!

Lonely Planet has quite a few opportunities to get published, the quickest and easiest being The Thorn Tree, Lonely Planet's everything travel web site. It's where you can: find answers to travel questions on just about anywhere in the world; shamelessly plug your own travel blog or photography or ask the most bizarre questions about life's random subjects. Unsurprisingly, the latter category appears to get the most hits and replies, some people in 'forum land' have too much time on thier hands!

For the aspiring photojournalist, the 'Don't Forget to Write' branch is the part of the Thorn Tree where you can seek feedback on your writing or plug your travel blog. This is what it has to say about itself:

This is the branch to share your trip reports and tell your travel tales. You can post short stories (up to 2,500 words), trip reports, or even travel related poetry, if you are so inclined.

You can also use this branch to tell us about your fabulous travel blog, to recommend other great blogs about world travel, or to talk about your favourite travel writing (shameless plug: have you seen the new Lonely Planet Magazine?).

Please note, as with any Thorn Tree content, you consent to our using your contributions from time to time in our publications or elsewhere on the Lonely Planet website, however, you as the author will keep copyright and can reuse your contributions.

We look forward to reading all about your travels and hearing about your blogs!

This was the entry I left on The Thorn Tree:

Karli's Story

Would be interested in any thoughts / opinions on 'Karli's Story' - an account of Karli's journey to become a photojournalist specialising in adventure travel.

I included a snippet from a previous post to try and hook people in and it worked. So far over 130 people have read the post and about 15 of them have visited my site using the link. You're competing for busy people's valuable time, so while this might not seem much, from one post, it's not a bad hit rate.

If you have a blog one of the issues you will be presented with is getting people to read it and if it's about a popular subject you'll be competing with thousands of other blogs and websites so this may prove difficult. The other problem you will have is how to market it, well, sites like the Thorn Tree will provide you with that opportunity.

This is Karli's reply to my entry in the comments box:

Aha! I have followed your sneaky breadcrumb trail Brendan. You see, Brendan has been setting me tasks to develop my skills until I manage to get a byline in adventure/travel publications. He's one taskmaster - I'm waiting to be told to bring him a golden fleece.

Seriously though, I appreciate his input and support and would love to hear from anyone else who has tips on breaking into this industry. You can read the journey so far on Brendan's site, as posted above, and you can also check out what I'm up to on my blog:-

Getting people to read your site isn't as simple as creating it, writing stuff on it, and then hoping people will drop by. Contributing to sites like the Thorn Tree and forums is the way to go. Next time your on a forum note how many users have links to their sites in their signatures - by contributing and becoming an active member of an online community you are likely to build up a following. That is, as long as what you write is worth reading!

If it is you might get another site to refer its readers to you as in the next sentence.

05/20/2010

I'll be checking the 'trail of bread crumbs' to see if she leaves a comment on Lonely Planet's online opportunity to get published, the one I have put there which will in turn link with a future post about writing for a blog and how to attract people to your site.

05/19/2010

Lonely Planet - probably one of the most well known brands in the world of travel writing. A tough title to break into? Maybe not as hard as you might think - there are quite a few opportunities in this months magazine to get your words and pictures published.

Normally I would highlight these, but following on from the last post, I'm going to ask Karli if she is up for a short assignment:

Read through the magazine to identify and analyse the opportunities to get published.

Check out the Lonely Planet website and do the same.

Find the trail of bread crumbs on the Lonely Planet site that will lead you back to Brendiver's World!

Karli has sent me her latest update of her journey. Back in the mid nineties I went through a similar experience - when you have the dream of getting published suddenly a trip to WH Smiths takes on a new meaning. On my visit I bought copies of Sport Diver and Scuba World (I already subscribed to DIVER) and went straight home to study their pages. My thought process was that if I planned to write something in the same style as the regular contributors or the editorial staff then it would be more appealing than if I wrote it in my own style. The reality was, my own 'style' was based on several hundred diving log book entries but I wasn't going to let that get in the way of my dream.

Keep Writing...

Brendan

Putting in the groundwork

It's Friday lunchtime and I'm literally elbowing trainspotters, planespotters and birdspotters out of the way. United in their passion and contentedly divided in their individual fascinations, this motley crew of fanatics could be auditioning for the part of Gollum in Lord of The Rings. Hunched over their respective 'precious', the captivated gentlemen revealed their primal side, guarding their territory like wild animals – not even moving for, ahem, a lady.

I was in WHSmith. Clearly British politeness was left at the door here. But I was a woman on a mission, so I ignored the tuts and grunts of one portly fellow with low-resting spectacles as he practically salivated over the sleek lines of a jet plane. The Sun's missing out on the latest Page Three sensation I think. I lunged for Diver,knocking rock climbing clowns to the left of me and snowboarding jokers to the right in the process. Clutching the glossy pages and breathing in their new page smell – I LOVE new book smell – I continued on my human ten pin bowling crusade to grab the latest Wanderlust and Lonely Planet. By the time I got to the counter I could finally stop holding my breath.

Now the heart rate's back to normal and I've had a good look through the articles, I've got a better understanding of what each publication is all about and the content they go for. As well as getting a little too excited and adding to my ever-growing list of must-see places, my plotting to get a byline in those glossies has stepped up a notch.

Brendan has suggested taking the 'Serendipities' route to breaking into the pages of Wanderlust – so I flicked to the back page to see what I have to contend with. The winning submissions that got printed this month have given me an idea of the style the editors must go for: quirky, colourful and witty. I'm thinking of a few of my travel tales that could be suitable for my stab at getting featured.Clearly my diving experiences in Mexico could be turned into a good read – especially since I'm at the beginning of my diving journey and so, hopefully, won't alienate people who have never dived.

Diver magazine could take a little longer to become a voice of authority in – I'm thinking a few hundred logged dives longer. But there is still a way... Brendan asked how my Advanced Open water weekend went and unfortunately, not very well was my reply. My dry suit didn't fit properly and I got drenched in 'damn son, that's cold!' water. Shivering and feeling a little bit down about the whole thing, I decided not to carry on with the rest of the weekend's dives until I got kit that would fit. "It's supposed to be fun, so don't push yourself if you're not happy," someone said to me as I sat there feeling sorry for myself and like I'd failed at something I really enjoyed. Being the good dive journalist that Brendan is, he suggested that I could make something out of this experience for Diver.

The Deep Breath column on the back page would be a prime space for this. The current issue has a piece from an instructor about how students are often overweighted and he calls for a reform in dive teaching to produce better and safer novice divers. This would be a great space to write about how many others must have gone through this. How many people have experienced something similar and never gone underwater again? I can see how this could happen – it's only because I'm stubborn and don't want to give up that I'm going to try again. And at this point I'll be honest, I'm not overly excited at the prospect. As well as the dry suit not fitting, my BCD was too large and my cylinder kept rolling around. Buoyancy felt totally out of my control, another diver also struggling with the alien new kit kicked my regulator out of my mouth... Nope, my first impression of UK inland diving wasn't the best. So I'll be working on crafting something for this page of Diver whilst I read over my AOW manual. Again.

05/15/2010

"Become a Lonely Planet Insider! We'd love to get you more involved in the magazine and hear your views - visit bbcmagazineinsiders.com to find out more and we'll be in touch"

I've since enrolled as a BBC Magazine Insider having ticked the boxes of just about every magazine they want involvement in, including Lonely Planet.

What the site claims:

"BBC Magazine readers and website users are invited to take part in regular surveys and questionnaires. As a member, you will be essential in shaping our magazines and websites - we want to hear your views on what we do.

Get a sneak peek at what we are working on

Offer your feedback - what are we doing well? What can be improved?

Have a direct link to our Editorial team helping to shape our magazines"

Naturally I'm interested in all of the above - what a great way to influence and find out what subjects magazines are looking to cover next.

Not sure what to expect. Might not be much as there's little in the way of content once you have signed up and only two newsletters since autumn 2009 (and they're a bit thin).

05/13/2010

Following the previous post where I provided Karli with some ideas on how to start getting published, Karli penned a few lines on her initial thoughts in the 'comments' box. I thought these might be worth sharing as they are the types of thoughts any other aspiring photojournalist might have at the beginning of their journey.

Getting published isn't as easy as writing something vaguely in line with what the magazine is about, sending it in and hoping for the best. I've always thought the research and thought that goes into each submission is the most time consuming and sometimes confusing (as your thoughts change direction over and over until you're not quite sure what it is you are hoping to write about). It's always good to know you are not alone, so here are Karli's first thoughts:

This is the moment when you're standing at the base of the mountain, and as you look all the way to peak, you just think 'right, that's a bloody long way before I'll reach the top... deep breath'. I'm used to starting at the very bottom of a very large pile and slowly creeping your way upwards – the world of journalism isn't for the faint-hearted. And neither is what I'm about to do; but I guess that's what makes it so fun. If everybody could just walk into the glory without the graft, then it wouldn't be as worthwhile would it?

So after reading Brendan's comments over and over, trying to soak it all up and use the nuggets of info for all they're worth, I'm now sussing out the competition as he suggested. I'm trying to get a feel for the publication as my first task – their style, tone and content. I've had a few chuckles reading other submissions and bracing myself for bringing out the big guns. It gets me all revved up when I size up competition because I can't help wanting to be better.

Before even thinking about writing my bid for travel journalism prestige though I'm checking out the contributor guidelines like my life depends on it. I know if I don't give them what they're after it's a pointless exercise. For the next few days I'll be getting my head stuck into Wanderlust magazines – not much of a hardship really since dreaming about the next adventure is one of my favourite pastimes! Wish me luck...

P.s. When I say I had a few chuckles - I meant because they were good and amusing articles, not because I thought they were rubbish! Just wanted to clear that up before I lost friends... not my style promise!

05/10/2010

Budding photojournalist, Karli Drinkwater (seen left during pre-dive checks) is about to embark on a journey to fulfil her ambition to become a recognised diving photojournalist.

She's got the drive and enthusiasm, but like many in her situation, she's not quite sure where to start. Getting your first by-line in any magazine often appears to be an insurmountable hurdle, which is why I'm featuring Karli's journey on this blog, to show how achievable realising this dream can be.

Over the next few weeks I'll be providing Karli with some ideas about where to start and in return Karli will provide this blog with a fly on the wall account of her journey.

Wanderlust magazine is one of the world's most respected travel magazines and for many photojournalists getting a by-line in this publication would be the pinnacle of their career. I believe Karli has what it takes to get published in the pages of this magazine through the back page Serendipities feature. Years ago the only opportunity to get your name in print was through the letters pages, however, as we are now in a far more media connected society many magazines have taken the steps required to ensure they keep up. One way is to provide readers with the opportunity to be part of more than just an online community, which is where Serendipities (a 'competition' for the best 250 word travel tale) steps in through Wanderlust's sister website GoWander.

In each edition of Wanderlust, what the editorial team considers to be the three best submissions will be chosen for publication for Serendipities. This could well be a foot in the door - get published once and they might remember your name, twice and they may be wondering what else you could do for them. Wanderlust publishes excellent Contributor Guidelines which should provide you with a framework. There are also guidelines for the Serendipities "competition" on the GoWander website.

I've heard quite a few editors say how they often look towards their websites as a way of discovering new talent. Wanderlust go one step further by providing this rather marvellous opportunity. The challenge is to squeeze a travel tale into the 250 word count limit for this feature.

Before I would consider submitting something for this page I would do some research first - these should be Karli's first steps prior to writing anything:

Become really familiar with the guidelines for submission and treat these as the 'Golden Rules.'

Buy the current and a few back issues of Wanderlust and read the Serendipities which have been published.

Analyse them to see how they fit within the guidelines, what patterns have been successful.

Use this pattern as your framework (as it must be what the editorial team are looking for).

Remember - this isn't about creative writing, it's about 'creating writing...' (which the editor is bound to choose over other submissions).

Go through the GoWander Serendipities online submissions and size up the competition. I've already taken a look at the last two months worth and would hope Karli will do likewise. Who are they, have they been published before, how many submissions are there, have others in the GoWander community made any comments? How many 'stars' have been awarded to each one? Anything else of interest?

I'm hoping Karli will be able to provide an update on how she gets on with her first steps.

My next post will provide another similar opportunity to this one. Until then,